PNG ambulances run out of petrol

Some 300,000 people will be affected

Papua New Guinea's capital has been left without an ambulance service after the operation ran out of petrol.

We apologise if anyone should suffer or die due to this closure, but it is beyond our control

Ambulance superintendent Graham Keake

St John's Ambulance Service in Port Moresby ground to a halt this week, after the government failed to pay a quarterly $22,000-grant for petrol and expenses, according to the Post Courier newspaper.

"An essential item for any ambulance service is fuel and as we have no funds, we cannot obtain fuel and we cannot operate any ambulances," the paper quoted ambulance superintendent Graham Keake as saying.

"We apologise if anyone should suffer or die due to this closure, but it is beyond our control."

'Latest casualty'

Mr Keake described the ambulance service as "the latest casualty" of the government's dire financial straits.

A lack of funding and poor administration have been responsible for a series of medical crises in the country over the last three months, AP news agency reported.

Hospitals throughout Papua New Guinea recently went for weeks without medical supplies because of a fee dispute between rival government departments, the agency said.

Papua New Guinea is a large impoverished island which has been plagued by corruption and instability since its independence from Australia in 1975.